26 May 2011

"I like church. I also like going to the cabin."

A protestant pastor in Minnesota has come up with an interesting solution to the problem of congregations vanishing on summer weekends. He's moved the day of worship to Wednesday:

DULUTH, Minn. - For hundreds of years, people have gone to church services on Sundays. But at one church in Duluth this summer, Sunday will not be the day to congregate and celebrate the Lord.

Instead, that day will be Wednesday.

"You've got to do something bold and different once in a while," said the Rev. Peter Bagley, who has been the pastor at United Protestant Church for more than nine years.

It started with one member of the congregation who reportedly said, "I like church. I also like going to the cabin."

That sentiment, plus an annual decrease in summer church attendance, got others thinking — until they had a revelation.

"Our solution is to have our regular worship service at a time when our disciples can attend," Bagley said. "While some churches will add a Saturday night service, we have decided to take what may seem to be a very unusual step and move the whole service to another day and time."

He was able to find some Biblical justification for this:

According to Romans 14:5-6, he said, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it."

Those of you who are "not from around here" may not appreciate the magnitude of the migration that occurs on summer weekends. Hundreds of thousands of cars exit the cities and head up or out to the lake every weekend. Kudos to this pastor for being innovative.

1 comment:

If the pastor was more versed in the scriptures, he would realize that having church on Wednesday would completely ignore 1 Corinthians 16:2 "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come", as well as Acts 20:7: " On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day..." If he wants to truly follow commandments put in place by God, he needs to do so 100%. Not change things here and there because they are "convenient" for people who aren't actually interested in putting God FIRST.

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